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SINGAPORES COCAINE CIRCLE

THE cocaine-snorting circle in Singapore appears to be a small and tightly
knit group.

Its members are quite distinct from hardcore heroin addicts and yuppie
party drug abusers, in that they tend to meet while doing business or at
social gatherings, and will introduce each other to the drug as well as the
syndicate selling it.

However, sources said these people usually use the drugs for personal
consumption. They don't dish it out at private parties.

Most consume the coke in the privacy of their homes, although some take it
just before they hit the pubs in their flashy sports cars or luxury sedans.

Among the 23 people arrested in a swoop on a suspected cocaine trafficking
ring this week, 16 were Singaporeans, two permanent residents and five
foreigners.

Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers had been tailing Laroussi for the
past two months and had spotted him on several occasions meeting suspected drug addicts outside pubs in popular nightspot areas such as Mohamed Sultan.

Bobby Rubino's owner, Mr Jimmy Hsiao, said Laroussi had called in on
Wednesday, the day before his arrest, to ask for a few days off as his
girlfriend's family was visiting from Malaysia.

Mr Hsiao said Laroussi had started work at the restaurant about four months
ago but had worked in Singapore before and 'knew a lot of expats here'.

According to CNB records, the last time an expatriate was arrested for
trafficking drugs here was way back in 1991 when Dutchman Johannes van
Damme was caught with 4.3kg of heroin at the Changi Airport. He was hanged.

Another expat who was arrested is Briton Nigel Bruce Simmonds, 35, a writer
at The Expat Magazine before he became Tatler bureau chief in April and
editor of Singapore Tatler, a high-society magazine.

He is married to a Japanese woman, who recently gave birth to a daughter.

Staff at the magazine were waiting yesterday morning for Simmonds to show
up for a meeting with the magazine's managing director Andrew Thomas to
discuss stories for the next issue.

The meeting started without Simmonds and ended two hours later, with him
still absent.

One of his friends said: 'Nigel comes in late to work at times, but when
the meeting ended and he still hadn't shown up, we started getting worried.'

His mobile phone was switched off.

When told the news, Mr Thomas declined to comment until he has a 'clearer
picture of the situation'.

Like Simmonds, award-winning French chef Francois Fabien Mermilliod, 29,
has been charged with possessing drugs. He was mentioned in a recent issue
of the Tatler.

He worked in several restaurants here such as Au Petit Salut and Duo
Restaurant, before he joined Flutes At The Fort, a fusion restaurant in
Fort Canning.

Mermilliod, who recently received a culinary award from the World Gourmet
Summit, 'went missing' after lunch hour on Thursday and did not return,
said his colleagues.

His wife called the restaurant to say he was sick.

Although few expatriates have been arrested for drug consumption in
Singapore, CNB deputy director S. Vijakumar issued a strong warning to the
community.

'We do not go easy on our enforcement on drugs. We will spare no community
that gets involved,' he said.